Underdogs
by OldHunterLoryx
Summary: Class 1B seemed to always end up missing the limelight, coming in second place to their counterparts and being forgotten by those that saw them. It would have been easy to be annoyed by this fact, but Class B preferred to get things done in their own way. They have their own trials and tasks to overcome, and being a hero isn't just about fame anyway, they have their own dreams.
1. Chapter 1- Gathering- Part 1

Gathering- Part 1

* * *

A blonde-haired boy slowly walked through a country path, his hands in his pockets as he slowly sauntered through the pathway, appearing not to have a care in the world. In truth, the boy's mind was busy with dozens of thoughts that crowded through his head, each idea clamouring for his focus so that it might be resolved. The upcoming entrance exams to UA High were at the front of his mind, but all sorts of other thoughts related to this exam were flying through his mind.

In short, Neito Monoma was feeling distracted and more than a little nervous, two states of mind that he had experienced frequently, but that doesn't mean he was entirely comfortable with them. He wouldn't let these weaknesses in his thoughts show in his expression as well, and so he wore his well-practised mask of smug superiority.

Though Monoma was a proud soul, there was one person that he knew that he was able to confide in without fear of mockery or judgement, and so he went to find her, knowing that she would likely be training in one of the fields nearby.

Soon enough, he found the person he was looking for, currently she was running laps around one of the fields that bordered the village that they both lived in. Her pace and endurance never ceased to impress Monoma, and he would always find himself struggling to keep up with her when they trained together. As soon as she caught sight of him, the girl changed course and jogged over to a waiting Monoma, who leant against a tree to give the impression that he was more relaxed than he felt.

"Kendo." Monoma said as soon as his friend was in earshot "Still out training? I'm pretty sure that you we here when I came by a few hours ago."

Itsuka Kendo pushed a lock of Bright orange hair out of her blue eyes as she addressed her friend, though slight panting from exhaustion hampered her conversation skills for a moment.

"You know I can't afford to slack off Monoma." Kendo replied, recovering from her fatigue impressively quickly "The UA Entrance Exam is only a few weeks away, and I don't want to get caught out by whatever they throw at us."

Monoma nodded his agreement, they had both spent hours on forums and webpages looking for any hint as to what the UA Entrance Exam entailed, but information was hard to come by and what they could find was little more than scraps of hearsay. The only concrete information they could find was that the exam changed frequently and was apt to be altered at the last second, so even if they did find anything it could very easily be incorrect.

The result of all of this uncertainty was two nervous teenagers, both of which dealt with their anxiety in different ways. Kendo preferred to throw herself into some kind of draining physical activity until she was too exhausted to even think about what was meant to be bothering her. Monoma had a habit of getting caught up in his own thoughts, and although he had tried to curb this habit it still caught him out on occasion.

"That's why I'm here actually…" Monoma chuckled, referring to the exam "We really don't have much time left, do we…"

Monoma trailed off, turning from Kendo to look over the sweeping landscape that they had both grown up in. In the distance, he could just about make out the grey patch that made up the edge of the Tokyo metropolis. Though nothing was clearly visible, the knowledge that UA's campus was somewhere in that patch of grey made his stomach churn, he mused that seeing it from a distance made it seem more real.

He couldn't bring himself to tell Kendo how nervous he was feeling, part of him felt selfish for wanting to put his worries on someone else, knowing that Kendo was just as nervous as he was. But beyond that, he detested his own weakness and reliance on others to get anywhere, a weakness that was reflected in his own Quirk.

"Monoma." Kendo stood beside him, her voice the kind of stern tone she usually reserved for when he did something truly stupid "You shouldn't doubt yourself."

Monoma looked back towards his childhood friend, both impressed and irritated that she could read him so well. He knew that he could read her expressions just as well, but it didn't make things any less irritating in the moment.

"We've been preparing our whole lives for this exam." Kendo smiled this time, placing a hand on Monoma's shoulder "We'll make it, I know we will."

A small part of Monoma's mind wanted to contradict her, to say that she would make it while he was left in the dust.

"Thanks Kendo." Monoma squashed the though and smiled back, thankful that he had sought his friend's counsel "I take it that you're up for training of some kind."

Kendo didn't respond, instead she grinned a far more fearsome smile before holding out her outstretched arm. Monoma grinned and grasped her hand with his own, activating his Quirk as he did so. Monoma felt the familiar feeling of the Quirk he copied most often course through him, and an experimental stretch of his other hand confirmed that he had an active copy.

"Just because you're feeling nervous don't expect me to hold back on you." Kendo called over her shoulder, walking towards an open patch of grass that the pair could safely train in.

Kendo cracked her knuckles and enlarged her hands to about double their normal size, dropping into a combat stance. Monoma knew better than to underestimate the strange appearance of Kendo's Quirk, as he strikes grew exponentially stronger the larger her hands got, and even at this size, they packed a punch.

Monoma sighed and dropped into his own more casual fighting stance, raising his hands and hoping that he wouldn't get beaten too badly.

* * *

A girl knelt at the foot of her bed, her eyes closed, and hands clasped in prayer, for the girl sought guidance from the God that she had revered her whole life. Though she didn't wish to use her prayers for what felt like selfish gain, her nerves and anxiety over the coming UA Entrance Exams had almost gotten the best of her, and so she sought guidance.

Ibara Shiozaki had always been guided by faith and belief in God, and she did her best to live her life well and to the best of her abilities.

The Quirk that had been granted to Shiozaki was a powerful one, but the devout girl looked beyond their physical power and into the innate symbolism that they evoked. Vines were part of nature, representative of the purity of the living world and given strength by the sun itself, and both of these aspects of her Quirk strengthened the connection that Shiozaki felt with nature.

Despite the Quirk that she believed to be a divine gift, Shiozaki found herself easily swayed into doubt, often thinking that she wasn't strong enough to overcome the trials that she would face in the future. She cursed herself for her own mental weakness, but no amount of training and practise could improve her own perceptions about her strength and ability.

She had felt lost and confused, and so she had prayed.

Halfway through reciting another prayer in Latin, Shiozaki felt her thoughts stray towards her power again, and though she tried to stay focused, her mind seemed to wonder of its own accord. The memories of her time training over the past months came back to the forefront of her mind, though they now seemed to take on a new light as she recalled them again.

Shiozaki remembered her limits when she had first begun her training, and then compared them to how she acted a few days ago. Her growth and improvement had been enormous over the months, and she had exceeded her limits many times over. And something within Shiozaki, though she didn't know if it was her own thoughts or something else entirely, told her that she would grow even further, and become even stronger.

Finally opening her eyes, Shiozaki felt at peace for the first time in many weeks, and although she knew that nothing was certain, she at least believed that she had a fighting chance in the coming trials that would be placed against her. Shiozaki stood from her position and pushed the long vines that made up her hair back over her shoulders, as they had fallen over her eyes while she prayed.

Shiozaki readied herself for the scant rest she would get before her training resumed, she was already planning out what parts of her Quirk she would train tomorrow. She gave one last whisper of thanks to God for this new surety of purpose, and she hoped that it would be enough.

* * *

A scrapyard would seem like a strange training ground to some, rusted metal and crushed cars weren't exactly ideal training implements, and most would find little use for such an environment. Some people with strength-boosting Quirks or an obsession with physical fitness could find the challenge of moving enormous chunks of metal to be a suitable way to test their skills, but even these individuals usually just preferred the usage of weights and other modern training devices. Because of this, it was strange to anyone that passed by to see a young girl training in this place, especially given that she lacked a strength-boosting power or a strong physical frame.

Yui Kodai didn't mind, she liked the solitude of the place. The scrapyard was silent for most of the day and she was unlikely to be bothered by anyone who did come by for their own reasons, two facts that she greatly appreciated.

Beyond this solitude, the scrapyard also gave Kodai an abundance of objects and material to practise usage of her Quirk on, and she didn't have to worry about causing collateral damage to lumps of scrap metal. This place had become her preferred training ground a few month ago, when she heard that somebody was delivering vast quantities of scrap from a nearby beach, and simply giving it over to the scrapyard.

Kodai reached for a nearby refrigerator that sat tall in a mound of other scrap metal, the white surface scratched and covered in marks and small dents. With a touch of Kodai's fingertips, the appliance shrunk down almost instantly, being reduced to only a few inches tall. Kodai knew that she could have shrunk it less or more, but it was still a good size for what she had planned.

Kodai bent down and reached for the miniaturised appliance, and picked it up with a single hand, her stoic expression didn't shift as she inspected the device. Anything affected by her Size Quirk would have it's weight changed proportionally as well, making the task of moving heavy objects far easier, a fact her parents came to appreciate the last time they re-arranged the furniture in their house.

She walked to a clearing in the middle of the scrapyard and set the refrigerator down, she took a few steps backwards before placing her fingertips from both hands together, releasing her Quirk. The refrigerator changed back to it's normal size in an instant, displacing the clumps of dirt around it as it shifted and expanded.

Without hesitating, Kodai placed a hand on the device again, this time willing it to increase in size. The appliance obeyed this command, growing to around five metres in height and almost throwing Kodai to the ground with the sudden expansion. Once Kodai had assessed her work again, she placed her hands together and returned the device to it's normal size again, though this time she turned and left it where it stood. Kodai was already searching for the next thing to practise her Quirk on, trying to practise as much as possible before the UA Entrance Exams arrived.

* * *

A girl sat in forest clearing, a large book open on her lap as she intensely studied it's pages, the information on her chosen subject entering her mind as she devoured the information on each page. The girl moved through the information at a frightening speed, flicking through the pages at a rate that most people would see as just skimming, though in truth she was abosrbing all of the information.

Kinoko Komori loved to learn about all kinds of fungi and mushrooms, an obsession that she attributed to the nature of her Quirk. She searched for every scrap of information on fungi that she could find, committing it to memory for better use of her Quirk.

Komori's Spore Quirk allowed her to produce any kind of fungal life form, from single-celled fungal organisms to various kinds of mushroom. Komori had always wanted to be a well-known idol hero, and while she was initially disappointed with her Quirk when it first manifested, she didn't allow herself to give up on her dream, and so she did everything to learn about her Quirk.

As it turned out, Fungi had a surprising amount of uses, particularly when Komori could produce enough of them to cover a large house within a few seconds. When in damp conditions, Komori's fungi could spread at an incredible rate, and she could continue to propagate them for as long as she wanted.

Komori was a naturally withdrawn soul, not much given to socialising and making friends of her own volition. She got on well enough with people in her Junior High class, but she wasn't especially close with anybody, and her obsessive studies didn't do much to improve her social life. Komori was aware of this, but her own confidence in herself and her Quirk was lacking, and so she stayed withdrawn, doing everything she could to get better control and discipline with her Quirk.

As her research continued, Komori began experimenting with different kinds of fungal life, putting into practise all of the things she had heard in school and read about in various libraries and online articles. Paralytic spores, poisons, sleep-inducing spores and various other applications of her Quirk came to her attention, and Komori realised that she could indeed use her Quirk to capture and immobilise villains.

Setting her book aside, Komori set to work on producing a new species of mushroom that she had read about, intent on gaining proficiency with this new species before the looming UA Entrance Exam came about. Any advantage in this coming exam would give her better chances of getting into the school of her dreams, and so Komori threw herself into practise and study, intent on gaining as many advantages as she could.

Komori promised to achieve her childhood dream, and UA was the first step on that path.

* * *

In a large house in Central Tokyo, a pale-skinned youth sat cross-legged in a training room, having just ran through several hours of gruelling training exercises with various teachers and tutors. Everything had been covered, strength, endurance, speed and combat proficiency had been just some of the many skills that had been impressed on the boy since the small hours of the morning. The sheer variety of skills and training types that he was expected to learn would have staggered anyone in how erratic the training seemed to be, demanding a flexible mind and an open approach to any task.

Juzo Honenuki had both of these traits in spades however, as they had been taught to him as being the most important traits that a hero could have.

There were several heroes in Honenuki's extended family, and although none of them had ever reached the dizzying heights of the top ten greatest heroes, they were all well respected and diligent heroes. Honenuki's grandfather was still talked about as an example of distinction in early pro heroes, and his father had recently retired from active duty with a respectable record and an ambition to open his own support company to better assist his erstwhile comrades who were still in the field.

Both of these ex-heroes, as well as more distant relatives from both sides of Honenuki's family had taught Honenuki their accumulated experiences from time in the field, both fighting against villains and rescuing civilians from disasters, both natural and man-made. Amongst all of the lessons that had been taught to him, the most frequently stressed lesson was that of flexibility, and adaptation to circumstances that he hadn't foreseen. Heroes could be faced with dozens of different villains with hundreds of different Quirks, and trying to approach them the same way every time could only end in disaster.

So Honenuki learned from a young age that a problem could be approached from many different angles, and it was important that he assessed them all and took the best course of action. This, they had all said, was the mark of a successful hero. Honenuki had taken all of these lessons to heart, and his grasp of unconventional strategy and adaptability to whatever circumstances he was placed in meant that he frequently excelled the expectations of his tutors and teachers.

Right now Honenuki was tasked with breaking out of a locked room without causing any damage to the room itself, something that ruled out any real usage of his softening Quirk, as a liquified wall likely counted as fairly excessive damage. As he paced around the room, Honenuki's gaze was drawn to the window that sat in one of the walls, secured from opening too far by a small chain.

A touch from Honenuki melted a single link in the chain, and he swung open the window and hung from the frame, another touch let him bend the link in the chain back into place, and a skeletal grin came to Honenuki's face at his escape.

* * *

The room that this next student trained in was darkened, the windows had been blocked with thick sheets of blackout paper, and the gaps in the door were blocked with thick masking tape. Only thin wisps of light were able to enter the room, and without these lights it would be nearly impossible for any ordinary person to make out a single detail of the room.

Then again, Shihai Kuroiro had spent a great deal of time in the darkness, and he had adapted well to making the best use of the shadows.

A small black sphere rolled across the floor of the room, it's erratic movement patterns and changing speed made it clear that it was being propelled by something other than momentum or gravity, but very few would guess that a Quirk was at work. The ball stopped in the dead centre of the room, and the black-clad figure that was Kuroiro stepped out of the ball silently, his appearance from the sphere defying any sense of spatial logic.

Kuroiro knew that he couldn't use his power on anything that wasn't black in colour, and the tests he had performed in this room told him that simply putting an object in a completely dark room wasn't enough to make it count as a black object.

It was an irritating setback, but Kuroiro was used to working with what he had in front of him, and he allowed himself a small measure of pride in his ability to improvise on the fly.

The darkened room had a purpose beyond helping Kuroiro work on his stealth, though that was still the skill that he spent to most time training and perfecting. Kuroiro wanted to know if he possessed the ability to detect where items he could use his Quirk on were without directly seeing them, as this would give him a great advantage in darkened environments.

Sure enough, if he closed his eyes and cleared his thoughts, he could feel a gentle 'pulling' towards several black objects in the room, from the black sphere to the opaque paper he had used to darken the room. Kuroiro focused on one of these sheets of paper and used his Quirk to leap into it, merging into the sheet with a silent motion.

Being trapped in 2D was a sensation that he suspected that he would never get entirely used to, but he was at least able to move around while restricted to two dimensions, it just took a little getting used to. Focusing again, Kuroiro outstretched his arm, pushing it beyond the confines of the sheet of paper and out of the object. To an outside observer, it would seem that an arm had simply appeared from the sheet of paper, with the rest of his body totally out of sight.

His test complete, Kuroiro silently leapt from the sheet of paper and back into the room. Once he had gotten used to being 3D again, Kuroiro grinned at his success, white teeth and silver hair drawing a dramatic contrast to his jet-black skin.

* * *

A hulking figure stood in a large field, stretching his pale-yellow arms in exhaustion as he prepared to continue his Quirk practise. A good distance behind him was a device that was built to shoot clay pigeons for rifle users to practise with, and despite this specific usage it would serve the boys needs fairly well. The device was set up just right so that it's projectiles would fly around ten metres in front of him, perfect distance to allow him to practise his accuracy.

As he heard the distinctive clicking that told him that the device was about to start launching it's projectiles again, Kojiro Bondo readied himself, the glue that was produced by his Cemendine Quirk flowing up to his golem-like eyes, ready to be released at a moment's notice.

The first disc flew free, spinning through the air before it reached Bondo's line of sight, and he fired the glue ahead of the disc in order to catch it and bring it to the ground, the main function of his Quirk. He had been practising with various distances and speeds of the discs for several days, and he had become fairly adept at intercepting them right along their flight path and landing his glue on the discs.

Sure enough, the glob of glue caught the disc on one side and quickly began to set, the sudden weight of the glue threw the disc off of its path through the air and sent it spinning to the ground, where the quickly-hardening glue rapidly bound it too the ground. Bondo knew that the glue's stickiness would decay after a time, but the disc would be stuck to the ground for around an hour, and it couldn't be removed without bringing a significant chunk of earth with it.

Bondo continued his practise like this for a time, catching every disc in the air, though some of his shots only scraped the edges of the disc, and so they weren't glued to the ground as well as they could have been. Bondo inwardly chided himself for this, knowing that fumbled or incomplete captures in real life could have serious consequences. Because of this perceived deficiency he pushed himself and tried even harder to get each shot and glob of glue dead on target, doing his best to imagine the training taking place in a real-life battle, and sure enough the last five discs were all hit dead on.

When the discs stopped flying, Bondo strode back to the machine to refill it with fresh discs, as the ones he had used were fused to the ground for a good while. As he refilled the machine, he silently thought about the UA Entrance Exam, and while he was aware that his intimidating size and physical strength would make whatever fight awaited him easier, it didn't make him feel any less nervous.

* * *

A diminutive figure was in the middle of a boxing gym, repeatedly attacking a hanging punching bag with a series of quick but well-focused strikes. Every so often, the boy would adjust his position or execute a practise dodge, knowing that his real world opponent probably wouldn't let him stand there and attack them with impunity.

Nirengeki Shoda was thoroughly exhausted at this point, having been training on-and-off for most of the day. Only fresh tape on his knuckles hid the myriad scrapes and cuts that he had acquired over the dozens of sessions that he had spent in this gym, and despite the sting that each punch caused, he kept going, working through the pain and continuing to attack the punching bag.

Shoda had based his fighting style on boxing for years, it let him better make use of his mobility and combined well with his Quirk, and resources and lessons on boxing were fairly easy to come by, letting him constantly find new techniques or old videos to study.

Pre-Quirk society used boxing and other forms of televised combat as a means of entertainment, as it was one of the most exciting forms of entertainment available at the time, and it provided a great example of the limits of human strength. Quirks had changed all of that, and now boxing matches were few and far between, and even the gym that Shoda frequently trained in was half-empty. Despite this downturn in boxing's prominence and popularity, the internet was still full of videos and interviews for Shoda to study, and he did his best to learn from these myriad examples.

Switching his stance slightly, Shoda activated his Quirk, feeling the mental switch and the slight feeling of static on his hands flare into life. Outwardly, nothing about Shoda's appearance or actions had changed, and he continued to punch with the same vigour and strength as before. But after every punch, Shoda felt the 'tagging' sensation as the punching bag was marked by his Quirk, though this change was still invisible.

Pushing himself harder, Shoda would strike the punching bag a few more times before hopping over to the next one along and punching that one instead, repeating the process for all ten of the punching bags along the row that he stood on. Once he had reached the final bag, Shoda gave it a few punches for good measure before stepping away and pausing to catch his breath. Shoda waited for all of the bags to stop swinging on their chains before uttering the words that would trigger his Quirk.

"Twin Impact."

As soon as the words left Shoda's lips, every single punching bag flew around wildly on it's chain, and it was only luck that prevented any of them from flying free. Every 'tag' that Shoda had placed had unleashed the latent energy within it, each one exploding at exactly double the strength of his initial punches.

Shoda grinned as he inspected his handiwork, before walking back to the first punching back to repeat the process.

* * *

In a Quirk training gym, a boy ran on a treadmill, an oxygen mask strapped to his face as he did his best to keep his form and breathing steady. The oxygen mask was hooked up to a monitor that registered his breathing rate and lung capacity, both of which were incredibly impressive for somebody of his age.

Then again, Kosei Tsuburaba had spent most of his life training his lungs, important as they were to his Quirk.

Endurance had been the focus of his training for the last week, as he knew that whatever UA had in store for him would likely be a fairly draining affair, and he wouldn't be able to do much with himself or his Quirk if he was too exhausted to use his power in any meaningful capacity.

Besides, running was at least relaxing, and the music that blasted through his headphones at least stopped him from stressing over the Entrance Exam. He had been running for over twenty five minutes at this point, and although he was capable of continuing for longer periods of time, this was his third repetition of this exercise today, and he wished to test his Quirk again before he totally keeled over.

Tsuburaba's arms and chest were still dotted with bruises from the close combat class he had taken last week, and he still ached whenever he stopped training for a moment. The trainer was an excellent teacher, and even though hand-to-hand combat wasn't really Tsuburaba's area of expertise, he had still picked up a great deal of helpful advice and techniques from the lesson. Despite that, the trainer was also little under seven feet tall and possessed an impressive strength-boosting Quirk, and he had thrown Tsuburaba into a wall on at least two occasions.

So it was a bit of a mixed experience overall, but at least he had gotten some good experience out of the whole affair.

A beep from the treadmill shook Tsuburaba from his thoughts, and a look at the digital timer on the device confirmed that the half-hour mark had passed. Tsuburaba ripped the mask from his face and turned on his heel to jog into the adjacent room, a large hall where gym users were free to use their Quirks.

Tsuburaba inhaled as much air as he could manage, triggering his Quirk as he did so. After holding still for a second, he exhaled, and unleashed a large orb of solidified air that hung in the air in front of him. Tsuburaba waited to catch his breath before observing the structure of the sphere.

Though he didn't fully understand the mechanisms of his Quirk, Tsuburaba knew that his Quirk didn't produce a one-to-one ratio of air, as the orb was about as tall as he was and just as wide. A rapped knuckle on the orb produced a tiny crack in the glass-like surface, and Tsuburaba sighed before turning back to the treadmill, determined to do better on the next repetition.

* * *

_Author's Note_

_And here's my other new story, Underdogs follows the oft-neglected Class 1B, and it will show them having their own adventures and story arcs as the students grow as people and heroes. I've had a soft spot for Class B for a while and it's great to finally be able to write something about them._

_This Chapter and the following one are mostly just introductions to the class, as I know a lot of people aren't very familiar with Class B and the student's Quirks so I thought that it would be an opportunity to refresh people on what they're capable of. The story will follow canon for a bit, but will divert at some point after the USJ, though Class A will mostly proceed as in canon as these changes won't affect them too much._

_Characters and their Quirks will be the same as in canon, though both their personalities and Quirks are apt to evolve as the story goes on. The only change is some of the character's birthplaces, as I wanted to write in some childhood friendships for some of the characters._

_This story will get a new Chapter every Tuesday and Friday, and like The New Heroes it will be a bit slower paced than usual as I want to give all of 1B a fair showing instead of leaving characters in the background for ages. After all, this story is all about being left out of the spotlight, and it doesn't make sense to leave half of the class in the background._

_Thanks for reading, and I will see you on Friday for the next Chapter._


	2. Chapter 2- Gathering- Part 2

Gathering- Part 2

* * *

Inside a rented dojo room, two students were locked in a melee, strikes being thrown between the two as the fight wound on. Both of the students were exhausted from hours of sparring, but neither wanted to be the first one to admit defeat, and so they continued.

The first student was calm and still, his stance speaking to a wealth of experience in martial arts and other combat techniques. He didn't make much effort to attack his opponent, instead focusing on blocking and redirecting his opponent's blows, and only occasionally throwing a punch to keep his opponent alert. The second student was a polar opposite, attacking with relentless energy, each attack leading into another with scarcely a pause for breath between each punch.

"Your punches are still sloppy, and you're body language gives your plan away." The first student muttered, side stepping another punch while delivering his criticism "Your Quirk gives you good capture power, but that doesn't mean anything if you can't hit your opponent."

"Really?" The second student shot back, exhausted panting doing little to remove his upbeat tone "How about this one!"

The second student shot out with a wild, swinging punch that his opponent smoothly moved to intercept in a practiced motion. At the last second, the punch was pulled back and the student moved to a swinging kick, the speed of this sudden change almost catching his opponent off guard.

Almost.

The first student ducked under the kick in a hurry, grasping the leg as it sailed over him and twisting on his heel, gripping his opponent's leg tightly over his shoulder. In a single motion, he dropped to one knee and threw his opponent over his shoulder, causing the student in question to crash to the padded mats on the ground.

"Better, but you've tried that trick today already." Sen Kaibara looked down on his defeated sparring partner, his calm disposition never once slipping "Your speed is getting much better though, it was a struggle to dodge that one."

"Wow, a compliment, that almost makes up for being body slammed." Yosetsu Awase shot back, a wild grin forced to his face by adrenaline "I keep forgetting how good you are at this."

"It's my area." Kaibara shrugged, hands in pockets "I've been practising this stuff most of my life, it's impressive you have me on the ropes as often as you do."

"I'll catch you out one day." Awase panted, exhaustion setting in as the heat of the fight faded "And on that day, I'm going to be the most irritating person you've ever met."

"You already are." Kaibara deadpanned back, a small grin cracking his stoicism as he offered a hand up to Awase "But if that happens, you would have earned it."

Awase grinned again and took the offered hand, being pulled to his feet by his ever-stoic training partner.

"Five minute break." Kaibara said, turning and walking to a small rest area that they had set up earlier.

Both of the boys took long sips of sports drinks before sitting and catching their breath, a few minutes passed without a word as they both recovered as quickly as they could manage. They had been repeating this cycle for a few weeks now, ever since Awase had approached Kaibara and asked for help in improving his close combat technique, a request that Kaibara had accepted with his usual calm determination.

"Your improvement has been good." Kaibara suddenly spoke up, drawing Awase's attention "At this rate, we'll be ready for the exam in no time."

"Here's hoping." Awase muttered, adjusting his headband that had been set askew by the spar "Thanks for all this, it's been helpful."

"Don't mention it." Kaibara shrugged again "It's good practise for me as well, training like this benefits us both. Quirkless sparring like that is good practise as well."

The pair had been sparring without Quirks all day, as they both tried to stop themselves from becoming over reliant on their powers. Both of the boy's fighting styles relied heavily on their Quirks, and the purpose of this spar was to try and break these habits.

Awase's Quirk was Weld, it let him bind any two things together at a molecular level, creating an unbreakable bond that only he could remove. It was a powerful and versatile Quirk, though the fact it was activated by touch made it difficult to deploy against a skilled opponent. Kaibara's Quirk was Gyrate, and it allowed him to rotate any of his body parts at incredible speeds, creating a drill-like effect on his limbs. Kaibara's Quirk, backed up by years of martial arts training, made him a devastatingly effective close combat fighter.

"I can't remember the last time we trained this hard." Awase spoke up again, drawing Kaibara's attention.

"Trust me, if even half of what I've read about UA is true, this will seem like a holiday compared to what they'll have us doing." Kaibara replied, vaguely recalling long nights spent awake searching for a single scrap of information on UA's Entrance Exam. "But you're right, we've never trained like this before."

Kaibara and Awase had known each other for almost their whole lives, having been friends even before their Quirks had developed. Though they seemed like polar opposites in personality, there was something in the way they interacted that spurred each other forwards, mutual ambition spurring each other forwards. UA had been a dream for both of them since their Quirks had developed, and they constantly pushed each other to train and prepare for that crucial exam.

"Time's up." Kaibara said, cutting off any reminiscing "Let's go."

Awase made a show out of his exhaustion, though Kaibara knew that it was just his way of joking and lightening the mood. Both knew that another hard day of training awaited them, as well as many more in the future, but neither of them really minded.

After all, getting into UA was worth any hardship.

* * *

Amidst the noise and overlapping music of a particularly serious gym, one figure stood out amongst the others, though this was largely due to a combination of his age and rather serious expression. Unlike the majority of gyms that existed, this one wasn't a Quirk-training gym, but rather an old fashioned business that focused on improving physical fitness. Quirks were still permitted, provided they weren't overly destructive or disruptive to the other clients.

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu was the young man in question, and he had frequently been seen at this gym in the past few weeks, and he had always caused a stir due to the incredible intensity of his training. Weightlifting was a personal favourite for Tetsutetsu, he saw it as the manliest way to improve his strength, and it was also a great way to improve his physical strength. But Tetsutetsu aspired to be a good hero in all aspects, so he trained his entire body relentlessly, readying himself for the coming UA Entrance Exam.

Tetsutetsu's Quirk, Steel, gave him the ability to harden his bodies exterior into a tough metal, which still gave him a full range of movement and didn't hinder his dexterity. Steel's main benefit was the fact that it gave Tetsutetsu incredible resilience to any kind of physical strike, punches, kicks and more would barely even scratch his steel skin, and this resilience made him an ideal close combat fighter. Steel gave Tetsutetsu other benefits as well, including a good level of temperature resistance, and the increased weight of his body putting more strength behind his attacks.

Tetsutetsu had often lamented the fairly ordinary nature of his Quirk, and he worried that he might not be able to stand out enough to succeed in his dream of being a Pro Hero. Like it or not, succeeding in heroics was based in a mixture of good PR and good results, and many heroes that got the job done but weren't popular often didn't make enough money to keep their agencies open. In addition, Tetsutetsu knew that hundreds of students would be applying to UA, and if he didn't manage to stand out enough to catch the attention of the school he might not be able to even enter UA at all.

Tetsutetsu shook the unmanly thoughts from his head, it didn't do anything good to get caught up worrying about possible futures, especially when some of these things were out of his control. All that he could do was train more and more and do everything he could to win, no matter how difficult that might be. Tetsutetsu was willing to put everything on the line to pass the exam, and continuing his training at an even higher intensity than before.

Grinning in a newfound motivation, Tetsutetsu grabbed another few weights to add to his bar and walked back to the bench he had been using all day, newfound energy coursing through his veins.

* * *

Tokyo Narita Airport was busy almost constantly, with hundreds of flights coming and going from the concrete maze every day, sending travellers all around the world. The advent of Quirks had changed air travel somewhat, with some airliners building plans specifically designed to seat travellers with unwieldly mutant-type Quirks. Some travel companies employed people with powerful teleportation-type Quirks to provide instantaneous travel to anywhere in the world, but these Quirks were rare, and they charged a small fortune for each trip, so most people stuck to conventional air travel.

Pony Tsunotori was one of these travellers, returning from a visit to her extended family back in America, having had the luxury of making the trip during a school holiday. Her parents had moved to Japan just over six months ago, new career opportunities making the decision much easier, the money and opportunity was too good to turn down. Tsunotori's father was Japanese by birth, and the move was a good opportunity for him to see his own family more often.

Tsunotori hadn't minded the move altogether, though she missed her friends back in America and had done quite well in the school she was in before moving. But she would have been moving into High School soon enough anyway, so she was prepared for an upheaval anyway. Besides, moving into the heart of Tokyo gave her the opportunity to try and enter one of the most prestigious Hero schools in the world, UA High.

UA's reputation was well known even outside of Japan, as several of America's top heroes had attended the famous school, and the skills it had imparted on them had earned them a great deal of fame and success back in the states. For this reason, Tsunotori was incredibly excited to have the chance to take the UA Entrance Exam, but that didn't mean that she wasn't nervous for the upcoming exam.

Tsunotori's Quirk was Horn Cannon, and it gave her a pair of large horns on the top of her head that could be launched at high speeds and remotely controlled, and these horns could be used to either attack foes or for various other purposes. Tsunotori's Quirk also gave her various equine characteristics, including horse-like hooves that gave her a powerful kick and impressive running speed.

As Tsunotori walked through the airport, she squinted at the various signs that plastered the walls of the building, wracking her brain to remember every Japanese lesson she had been given. Thankfully, her father's lessons had been ingrained enough that she was able to navigate her way through the airport with only a few brief detours, and the few signs that were written in English were enough to guide her to the exit.

The exit was just ahead, and Tsunotori's mind couldn't help but see it as a threshold into her new life. She had flown back to Japan a week ahead of her parents so she could get a jump start on her training, as well as getting the lay of the land in Tokyo.

Taking in one more deep breath, Tsunotori walked forwards, ready to begin her path to UA High.

* * *

Green fields disappeared under the relentless pace of another student, the speed of his run causing him to cross the training fields rapidly. The students speed was comparable to a professional athlete, and yet he had been running for over an hour, with little sign of slowing or running out of stamina.

Jurota Shishida had kept this relentless pace for the entire day, his Beast form keeping him going where normal human stamina would have long since ran out. Running was a great way for Shishida to train his body and Quirk at the same time, and increasing his endurance and stamina would be beneficial when readying himself for the UA Entrance Exams. Shishida was lucky enough to live in the countryside, and so there was an abundance of training grounds he could use for his Quirk.

Shishida's Beast Quirk had two affects, firstly it changed his appearance from birth into a human – beast hybrid, with fangs, fur and several other animal-like characteristics. But this was only the initial affect of the Quirk, as Beast also allowed Shishida to switch into a more bestial form, increasing strength and stamina while also causing an impressive increase in muscle mass. Shishida always had to be careful when overusing this form though, as it was increasingly intoxicating the longer he remained in the form, and this could lead to a loss of mental faculties.

The purpose of Shishida's training was to lessen the impact that this intoxication had on his mind, as he was someone who valued intelligence and strategy in the way he approached problems. This meant he valued his mind as much as his body, seeing them as two necessary halves of one whole, and so losing his senses in the middle of a fight was antithetical to his way of thinking.

That said, he couldn't help but enjoy running free with his Quirk, every sound and scent was exaggerated to an incredible degree, and Shishida couldn't help but be distracted by the sensory barrage that his Quirk let him perceive. Shishida knew that these enhanced senses had their uses on the battlefield as well, as tracking down enemies and villains would surely give him an edge against villains that relied on stealth or ambushes to avoid an honourable fight.

All of these thoughts buzzed around Shishida's mind as he considered his training, inwardly hoping that he was doing enough to pass the notoriously difficult entrance exam. Shishida had split his time between academic study and physical training, as UA was notorious for its demandingly high standards in both of these aspects, and it wouldn't do to succeed at one aspect and fail at another.

Shishida turned on his heel and started sprinting back towards his starting point, knowing that he would be able to cross the distance in less than an hour. He had been pushing himself for weeks on end now, and he could only hope that it would be enough.

* * *

Another student faced down the training dummy that stood opposite him, the faux opponent held upwards by a single wooden post. The dummy was of a fairly sturdy construction, made of strong wood with an underlying metal skeleton that gave the dummy extra strength. This was meant to make the dummy less likely to break under extreme stress and damage, though for the student that faced down this opponent, this was simply another obstacle for him to overcome.

Togaru Kamakiri grinned in anticipation as he readied himself to destroy the dummy, hoping to beat his previous time that he had achieved earlier in the day. He flexed his fingers to get himself amped up, and long blades slid from his arms, ready to do their deadly work. The adrenaline of a battle always got Kamakiri psyched up, and he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists in readiness.

At a silent signal, Kamakiri leapt forwards and set upon the training dummy, a flurry of blows raining upon the faux enemy within a few seconds. Kamakiri moved with blinding speed, his arms blurring as he increased the speed of his strikes, not seeming to tire or slow in the slightest, despite the speed of the onslaught he had unleashed.

Kamakiri's blades never snapped or dulled, no matter how much he used them, and they would always cut through everything he tested them against. Razor Sharp was the perfect name for this Quirk, as it gave Kamakiri the ability to manifest blades from any part of his body, and these weapons could also take whatever shape that Kamakiri willed. His preferred weapon was a pair of long blades that sprung forwards from his forearms, acting like an extendable claw for each arm.

Leaping to the side, Kamakiri changed his angle of attack and began to assault the dummy from a new angle, cleaving the dummy into pieces with his blades. After each series of strikes, Kamakiri would leap around the dummy and attack from a different angle, so his training could also assist in improving his speed.

With another leap, Kamakiri moved around the dummy and pulled back his arms for a final strike, pausing for only a split second to align his attack. With a final burst of speed, Kamakiri slashed forwards with both his blades in an X pattern, delivering a devastating strike that sent the remains of the dummy flying into the air.

Finally finished, Kamakiri paused for breath, his gasps shaking his form as the adrenaline of his attack wore off, and exhaustion took hold of him. After several seconds of recovery, Kamakiri looked over to his handiwork, retracted the long blades back into his arms, knowing that they would vanish as soon as they were retracted.

The training dummy had been reduced to little more than a pile of wooden splinters and scrap metal, the ferocity of Kamakiri's attack having torn it apart with very little effort on his part. Kamakiri paused for a second to observe his work, before turning on his heel and leaving the room, intent on finding another dummy to practise on.

* * *

A young student stood between several large bamboo posts, each one spaced out equally and constructed identically to each other. A pile of destroyed posts in the corner of the small room showed what was to happen to these posts, and the damage visible around the room spoke to the days of training that the young student had been putting himself through.

Hiryu Rin readied himself for another round of destruction, summoning the familiar power of his Quirk as he felt his arm begin to change. Pale green scales coated both of Rin's arms, giving them a reptilian appearance as they transformed up to his elbows.

In a burst of motion, Rin aimed his arm towards the first of the posts, clenching his fist and closing one eye to better help his aim. With a slight flex of his muscles, Rin shot a burst of scales towards the first post, the projectiles silently slicing through the air. A few scales were sufficient to destroy the post, the blade-like scales cutting through the post and reducing the post into destroyed fragmented.

Rin repeated this process again on several more of the pillars, his Quirk producing the scales as quickly as he could shoot them, and he swiftly reduced several of the bamboo posts into severed fragments. He couldn't produce scales endlessly, and he knew that he would reach his limit after some time of using his projectile scales, but he had been training to up that limit every day.

As well as giving him the ability to shoot scales like projectiles, Rin's Quirk also gave him enhanced toughness, as the scales were able to absorb a great deal of damage without Rin himself becoming injured. This was technically the main attribute of Rin's Quirk, though he had already spent a lot of time training his toughness, and he had sought to improve every attribute of his Quirk during his training.

Soon enough, all of the pillars were destroyed, fragments of shattered bamboo scattered all around the room, and Rin was left standing in the centre of this field of destruction. He watched with interest as the missing scales on his arms began to regrow, the pale green shards replacing the ones that had just been launched earlier. Rin's speed at growing new scales had improved lately with his training as well, though they still took some effort to recreate, and he would gradually tire out over time.

Eventually his arms were fully covered in scales again, and Rin was ready to begin another round of training. A large bundle of bamboo posts sat in the corner of the room, and Rin went to grab them, intent on improving his time again before he was willing to finish for the day.

* * *

A lone girl moved through the crowds of people that walked through the inner city where she lived, each of them presumably on their way to some kind of late-night bar or other exciting event. The nightlife of Nagoya was something that the city took considerable pride in, as it brought people out every night to enjoy the cities many amenities. Even though it was close to midnight, the crowds were still massive, and hundreds of people moved around each other on the way to wherever they were headed.

Reiko Yanagi wasn't headed anywhere in particular, she simply enjoyed being out late at night, breathing in the cool air and enjoying the way that the moonlight reflected in the puddles of rain that lightly coated the streets. Yanagi had always been more predisposed towards calm, dark and cool places, and she found them to be the best way to relax after a long day.

While the streets of Nagoya were cool and dark, they certainly weren't calm, so Yanagi headed somewhere that she knew would be far quieter. The place she walked towards was a small café that sat in an alleyway, away from the main streets and the tourists that descended on the city every night. The café preferred to serve local patrons in relative quiet and comfort, and so it didn't advertise its presence beyond a small faded sign over the doorway.

Yanagi was a regular to the café and a known face to the staff, and she was quickly waved in where she ordered her usual coffee before heading to the rooftop area, the open plan garden that sat on the roof of the building was just insulated enough from the crowds to be quiet and peaceful. This was Yanagi's favourite place to relax after a day of training her Quirk, or just after any stressful scenario in general.

Her Quirk, Poltergeist, let her remotely control any objects nearby with her mind, the Quirk being some form of telekinesis. The only reason her Quirk was named Poltergeist instead of Telekinesis was the fact that the Quirk doctor she had visited when her power first manifested had noted that it behaved differently to most telekinetic powers he had seen, and so he had insisted on giving it a different name.

Yanagi had hoped that this difference would manifest itself more distinctly as she continued to train her power, but all she had succeeded in doing so far was increasing the limit of the weight she could manipulate to about one person in weight. Though nothing of her Quirk had clearly changed yet, Yanagi continued to push herself and train harder, and she hoped that UA might give her the means to advance her power and control further.

UA High had always seemed like a distant dream, the kind of thing that students idly thought about when considering their future, but rarely did anyone commit to truly trying to enter. And the knowledge that she would soon be truly trying to enter UA was a thought that Yanagi couldn't shake from her mind, despite her best efforts to relax.

* * *

An exhausted student was sat at his desk, sketching out a panel from a manga comic he had been reading recently, the details quickly being placed on the paper by the skilled hands of the young student. Drawing and reading manga was one of Fukidashi's most intense passions, and he found himself grabbing his pens whenever he found himself feeling stressed or nervous.

And the past few weeks had certainly been a source of stress for Manga Fukidashi, the UA Entrance Exams were getting closer and closer by the day, and the pressure was building with every hour that passed. Fukidashi had been training intensely for hours every day, using every application of his Quirk that he could imagine to prepare for every eventuality possible. Overuse of his Quirk caused a sore throat, and so Fukidashi was left feeling tired and irritable at the end of every day, and so he drew to unwind.

Fukidashi's Quirk was Comic, and it allowed him to manifest the physical effects of any onomatopoeia that he spoke allowed. Saying 'Boom' would result in a powerful explosion, whereas saying 'Zap' would release a burst of electricity from wherever Fukidashi aimed his words. It was an incredibly powerful and versatile Quirk, and the main focus of Fukidashi's training had been learning which sounds worked with his Quirk and how best to utilise them. Just this morning, he had tried out 'Shing' which mimicked the sound of drawing a weapon from its sheath, and sure enough the result of the words was a wave of cutting force being projected forwards.

Fukidashi's Quirk also had given him a speech bubble in place of a head, and while it was observed to be a rather unusual mutation by several people, he had managed to live long enough without the change really changing anything about his life. Most of what Fukidashi said aloud would also appear written down on his head, which made it fairly easy to get his point across whenever he was talking to someone, as the words would quite literally stare them in the face.

Fukidashi continued his drawing, doing his best to taking his thoughts away from the Entrance Exam and towards something a bit more relaxing, though he didn't manage to completely banish the dreaded test from his mind. His hobby of drawing had started from a young age, and all of his walls were covered in sketches and other artwork, each of which was destined to be replaced when he inevitably rain out of space to put something knew.

Finally, Fukidashi knew that he wouldn't be able to keep himself from thinking of the exam any longer, so he laid down his pens and moved away from his desk, grabbing a large dictionary on his way towards his bed. At the very least, he may as well learn something new about his Quirk if he had to keep thinking of the exam.

* * *

Setsuna Tokage sat in her bedroom, sorting through the mounds of paperwork that came with trying to enter UA High through official recommendation. Though she was extremely grateful for the opportunity that her parents had opened for her, it didn't mean that she was thrilled with all of the signing and reading that came with it.

Beyond the boredom that came with sorting through paperwork, all of the time that it was taking to finish was eating into her training time, which meant that her Quirk wasn't getting trained as often as possible. At the very least, she was able to train her Quirk passively even while sitting down, and the lack of destructive power meant that it was fairly safe to use in her bedroom. And so Tokage had been using her Quirk continually for the last hour or so, and the stress of keeping her power in use for so long was getting to her.

Her Quirk, Lizard Tail Splitter, let Tokage separate her body into fifty separate pieces, and she was able to control each part separately and even float them around in the air. Controlling the Quirk took a great degree of fine control from Tokage, and even after so many years of training she still needed to focus to keep each piece controlled remotely.

Currently, Tokage had one of her arms completely disassembled, each piece of it floating around her in circular motions, the eerie sight totally normal to her. The exercise of making parts of her arm fly around was largely pointless, but it helped Tokage to maintain control over longer periods of time and increasing the fine control she had over the floating limb parts.

Tokage sighed again as she shuffled through all of the paperwork that lay in front of her, realising that she had misplaced one of the sheets that she needed to read through. She noticed the paper laying on the ground across the room from her, though it seemed much further away to her exhausted mind.

A single mental command sent Tokage's floating hand over to the paper, and she grabbed the sheet before floating the hand back towards her. When Tokage manipulated her floating body parts, she could feel them as if they were still attached to her body, and she was able to use her hands as she would normally. The only main restrictions to her Quirk were the amount of parts she could split herself into, and the fact that each body part could only be kept away from her for so long before she had to return it.

The thought of training came to Tokage's mind again, and she knew that she would have to cram some more physical exercise into her schedule before the practical sections of the exam came up. Training seemed more attractive than what she was doing currently, and that thought caused Tokage to throw aside her pen, reattach all of her body parts and head for the door, eager to clear her head.

* * *

_Author's Note _

_Sorry for leaving this one a bit late, starting two new stories at the same time required a little more work than I was expecting, but I think I have everything sorted out by now. The current situation has also delayed things by quite a bit, I'm a key worker and still have Uni Deadlines, so time was a bit thin on the ground over the past weeks._

_Not too much to add this time, we just met the other half of 1B's students and had their Quirks introduced. I've added another childhood friendship in Kaibara and Awase, I've seen these two getting along in a bunch of other fics and I think they have a good dynamic._

_I know these two introduction Chapters might be a little boring for some, as they don't do a lot beyond showing off the various characters in 1B. At the very least it gave me an opportunity to get some early characterisation in, and I hope that the reminders of 1B's names and Quirks would be helpful for those of you that don't read into Class 1B much._

_I guess it's a good time to address the elephant in the room, the outbreak that's flaring up around the world is cause for concern for lots of people, and the closure of many universities, schools and workplaces around the world had most likely affected everyone reading this to some extent. I hope that reading these stories has been a reprieve from everything going on around you, and I'll do my best to keep regular updates going in order to keep you all entertained during lockdowns. For this story, the updates will be Tuesday and Friday._

_On the subject of staying indoors, I appreciate that this is going to be a difficult time in a lot of your lives, and the reality of being stuck indoors for weeks on end will be stressful for a lot of you. To try and help somewhat, I've created a Discord server where you can come and hangout, and hopefully forget about the stress of the world for a bit. I'll try to be online as often as I can manage, and will be happy to discuss anything related to these stories or any other topic. Come and join if you'd like: /6heZ5HP_

_Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time._

_And to answer some reviews:_

_Attackin: Thanks for the review, I'm a big fan of 1B as well so I'm glad to see that other people enjoy these characters. In all honestly I probably prefer them as a whole to 1A, as 1A has several characters I don't really care for, whereas I like pretty much all of 1B._

_Raven Mordrake: I've been pondering connecting my three MHA fics for a few weeks, but I'm still unsure of exactly what to do. I'm leaning towards keeping the fics separate for now, as I want them all to be accessible to new readers, and if they all end up being part of a shared universe I think it might make things difficult to read. That said, I'm still open to the idea, and I'll keep it in mind._


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